Hocus Pocus

5 hours ago, KiChakayan said:

If I had [wet] dreams of PR i'd still have a serious look at the BOI/LTR offer. Which gives you 10 years with easy WPs for 50K, and a few pdfs one can send on line without leaving the bedloom.

This is Plan B. One thing I considered is that one cannot apply for PR if they change visa to the LTR type, so I will give PR a try first. One twist I discovered with the LTR visa is that they require passive type income mainly assuming you have a 80k+ pension. My retirement cohort is the generation of Provident Funds, so they will need to think of revising their scheme for modern retirement plans. I know from the other discussion thread that I can stitch together things to meet the requirement for Wealthy Pensioner, so will keep the option in my back pocket.

Hello AN Community,

Just as the title says, I am looking for assistance with an application for Permanent Residence. I have done my research and know that I qualify on the criteria for the Employment variant (7 Years continuous employment, paid loads of taxes, Western nationality to fit within quota, etc.). I don't need anything beyond the basics to do the paperwork (which I know is a lot, including translations) and handhold with the initial visits to immigration. My Thai will need work, but I will do that myself. I have done some shopping with law firms and gotten some eye-popping quotations, one quote on the order of the cost for a 20-year Thai Elite Visa.

Need a Bangkok-based firm/company. Does anybody in the community have experience with doing a PR process with the assistance of a local company? Would be grateful for any suggestions for company that can do the job efficiently and effectively. Many thanks in advance.

Don't know where to directly purchase. If it helps, however, I was doing some research on contact lenses and found this guy who seems to do nothing but contacts. https://www.drbirdcl.com/

He also does hours on Thursdays at Rutnin/Gimbel on Thursdays as their resident contact specialist, which gave me a lot of confidence that he knows his craft. https://www.rutningimbel.com/2018/th/ophthalmologist/

I never went to him because my blurry vision issue was diagnosed at Rutnin as meibomian gland dysfunction causing dry eye. With dry eye treatment, my issue was corrected. Good luck.

Second the recommendation for Dr Siripronchai. He is my ENT and understand he specializes in such cancer cases. Although his STL office hours are very limited... Tuesday's only from 10-11:00am. I think his main office is at Chulalongkorn. Good luck.

2 hours ago, alex8912 said:

What exactly do you mean by adding spaces after passport/insurance number to get the green check? Also what browser did you use?  I wish more people would list a popular browser that works. So far just about every browser mentioned I never heard of. Safari can work? I guess google chrome doesn't ?  I can't believe you have to change or add browsers just to get TP to work!  Don't they even suggest which browser to use?  Even Hotmail can't work for return email but I guess it's mentioned now on TP. Even that issue seems insane.

I used Chrome for browser to submit all info. The spaces were needed to deal with the "API" coding error, which I have read has been fixed. This article helped me solve the problem at the time of launch: https://bangkokherald.com/business/tech/thailand-pass-api-error-heres-how-to-fix-it/, which should be unnecessary now. Best of luck.

Great that they are recognizing the need for improvement, but having braved through the launch day of having to convert everything to JPG and add spaces after passport/insurance number to get the green check, it is not a process I would recommend to a friend. Key flaw that they are correcting is the need for a reference number and status check. For a 12 Nov flight, I waited 2-8 Nov before calling the Chicago consulate (rejected by grumpy Thai guy) and the Washington embassy (helped by friendly Thai lady), where I got my TP QR code literally 10min after she asked my passport number and name (that's how they have to search since there are no reference numbers). To be honest, they should advertise it is 7 BUSINESS days, which in my case would have been up to 11 Nov, too late for me to wait for an answer for a 12 Nov flight.

I met several Thais and foreigners that had the same issue in the airport and flight. Nobody I met had much of a choice, they were all returnees for work or family. This is all teething issue, but no tourist would put up with this BS except the motivated characters I now see stalking Sukhimvit.

One positive is that the swab-and-go process worked fairly smoothly (for me) on landing. From the sitting down in the blue plastic chairs where they sort your documents (recommend printouts of your TP and COV19 test result!), walk through of health check and immigration - airport was smooth. The slight chaos was the disorganized hotel transport as they didn't have my name (which was the case it seems for others), but it was sorted in 15min. My swab-and-go hotel (Arte Hotel) was good and well organized. It worked, but not something I would not mind avoiding in the future.

Sharing experience. Tried to submit to Thailand Pass on 01 Nov on go-live. On 02 Nov, used the "space after passport and insurance" and got the green check mark with the "will reply in 7 days" confirmation mail shortly after. Waited 3-8 Nov with no reply with a flight fast approaching 12 Nov, so asked somebody in my company in Thailand who handles our relationships with government. It was suggested to talk directly to local embassy/consulate as the system is administered by Thai Embassy and Ministry of Public Health. This morning 09 Nov called Thai Consulate in Chicago. Grumpy Thai guy said "nothing they can do as Thailand Pass is serviced by Department of Health" and recommended I send an email to [email protected]. Not wanting to give up, I called the Thai Embassy in Washington, DC. Friendly Thai lady asked my passport number and full name, then said she would check with Thailand Pass team, telling me to look in my mail in the afternoon. Literally 10min later an email popped in with Thailand Pass QR code. Job done. Lesson for me was to go directly to the main Embassy and not a Consulate.

Have not seen QO brand. I have seen multigrain-type rice cakes at Tops and Villa Market. You can search online. They will be more plain flavored type, not the cinnamon, etc. flavored types which make rice cakes more palatable.

Me: Had jab late Wednesday afternoon. Took rest with Tylenol in evening. Had moderate headache and slept in following morning, but was okay by lunch Thursday. Felt a bit tired and stayed away from the gym, but was back on routine by Friday.

Wife: Had jab at same time. By late evening was suffering from severe chills. Followed by 2 solid days of severe headache, fever and body ache which went to mild headache on Saturday. Only on Sunday got better.

I normally have less reaction to flu jabs. Wife normally has worse reaction. Still 10 weeks away from second AZ jab, of which my wife is not looking forward. My advice is to prepare for a couple days down time.

++ for Seventh Generation. Their products are designed with natural ingredients and without artificial fragrance or color, so considered as hypoallergenic for sensitive skin. Try the Unilever shop on Lazada as they have some special deals.

I have seen them on Lazada. Prices around B1700. Just select a Thailand supplier and you won't need to worry about getting something stopped from shipping overseas.

That being said, I asked my dentist about teeth whitening procedures and he recommended against as the bleaching process can make your teeth more brittle. More practically, it will not improve the color of any fillings you have. So if you have composite fillings on any front teeth, there will be color patches. For consideration.

Dr. Somboon at St Louis Hospital. 5min walk from BTS station. He burnt off several moles/age spots and the cost was just 200b/spot. You may want to consider different approaches (electro, laser, shaving, cryo) for different types (mole, age spot, skin tag, etc.), so best to consult a dermatologist and get the right treatment.

MedconsultAsia also advertises they have a specialist for moles. Send them a pic on LINE and they can advise. Good luck.

Also HIGHLY recommend Dr Donna for dermal filler. Not only does she understand the "aesthetic art" of doing the injections, but she also uses a cannula instead of a syringe which gives a better result. My wife and I had it done for nasolabial area and very pleased with the results. If you ping them on LINE, they will tell you when there is a promotion on. Recently Neruamis was on crazy promo for 3500b/1cc, which was half of when we got Perfectha for 7000b/1cc on promo. I suspect they will soon have a Christmas promotion on, so wait a bit. In my opinion, there is no need to get the US-made fillers like Juvederm as the price is 2-4 times brands from Europe. MedConsult prices on this procedure are very competitive.

Remember, get the longest lasting formulation possible as even the longest-lasting fillers dissolve after 12-18 months. Dr Donna will be up front. If you want under the eye (not deep) or in the lip (lots of movement), you can end up with a cycle of jabs every 4-6 months. The nasolabial and cheek areas can last the longest, but be prepared for sessions every year or so. 

My observation is all of the Tens units are knock-offs from China. They are manufacturers for US companies, so they put out grey market units which use the same hardware with slightly different software. The Tens unit I got is an exact copy of a USD350 HealtmateForever T24AB2 unit which costed THB1500 via Ubuy (see photo). Works very well, with 24 modes (massage/rhythm types), 4 outputs with A/B mode (so you can get up to 8 pads doing 4 areas with 2 different massage patterns) with separate intensity levels and a timer. The size is the same a first gen iPhone with a touch screen (you can use finger or stylus). Charges by USB and charge lasts for days, so you can use it on-the-go. Suggest to get a unit where the pads are "plug type" and not "pin type" (harder to find) or "machine specific" (e.g. the Omron knock-offs use a special kind of pad) as you will need to replace the pads after a while.

My only mistake was to order by Ubuy, which ships their products via the US. My package got stopped in customs and I needed to provide a doctor's certificate since it was classed as a "medical device". Eventually got it through, but it was an unwanted hassle. So recommend you find a Lazada vendor based in Thailand which can ship locally. Price will be higher but you will avoid customs trap.

Got the same device for my mother who suffers from chronic back pain. Worked will for her.